NEW RELEASE
An Englishwoman in New York - Anne-Marie Casey (2013)
aka No One Could Have Guessed the Weather
Lucy has to relocate to New York when her husband loses his job. She hopes to make friendships at the school gate but it isn't until she is waiting for an emergency flight home that she bonds with Julia, a successful screenwriter who has left her husband and kids. Christy leads a pampered lifestyle married to an older wealthy man but she feels trapped and can't keep her eye off the hunky new doorman. And Robyn is married to a writer who has never amounted to anything. Feeling like she is always left out of the circle of female friendship, she has affairs with their husbands instead. I must admit when I read the publicist's info on this book, comparing it to Melissa Bank's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, I was very tentative as I don't tend to enjoy vignette-style writing. With its astute observations of life, this one does hold together more or less like a novel. The story, though, is less about the Englishwoman in New York and more about the rest of the cast. Despite the work of an obviously talented writer, the parts that did capture my attention were too few and far between.
An Englishwoman in New York (aka No One Could Have Guessed the Weather), the debut novel by Anne-Marie Casey, was inspired by her love-hate relationship with the city. The summary says: "When Lucy's husband loses his job and is relocated to New York, she is forced to give up her posh London life and move to a tiny Manhattan apartment. Homesick and resentful at first, Lucy soon finds herself embarking on an exhilarating new affair (no, not with her husband, although she is surprised to find they do still love each other), but with the city itself and the three women she meets at the school gates who - against all odds - become her friends. Christy, married to a wealthy older man, questions her life choices as she fantasises about her doorman and tries to make peace with her angry stepdaughter. Julia is a workaholic television writer who becomes convinced her family is better off without her, until a neighbour's dog makes her re-think everything. Meanwhile Robyn, bread-winning wife to an aspiring novelist, has had enough. She wants what her friends are having - even if it means an affair with at least one, if not all, of their husbands."